You Are American, Too.

By Virginia Sánchez

Dear U.S. Latino kids,

I am one of you. I was born and raised in the United States. The rest of my family was born por allá. They call me la gringa. Because I am. I am American. That does not make me better than the rest of my family. It does, however, make me different in certain respects. I am not an immigrant. I have been a U.S. citizen all my life. Yet during this atrocious government shutdown, I once again feel that Trump and his supporters do not see me as American. They don't see me as American because I am not white. They don't want to build a wall for security purposes; they want to build a border wall to keep more brown people out of this country. There are 58 million Latinos in the United States and that number keeps growing. White Trump supporters fear we're threatening white dominance. I am writing this little letter to you as a reminder. You that you are American. And you deserve everything that we in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave are entitled to have. Hold your head high in the classroom and on the playground. Do not forget your power. Together, we must rise and make this country great—not again, but for real.